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Rear Axle Differences - Early 01 vs Later

70K views 42 replies 14 participants last post by  VpointVick 
#1 ·
The car I am building a '01 330CI, with a build date of 10.08.2000 (last 7 of the VIN are JU21013). After buying this car I later bought a wrecked '02 330ci (can check the VIN and build date if someone cares to know it) for a spare engine, trans, and whatever else was salvageable. I knew there were some differences from the two cars, but this one is a big one.

The rear axles are completely different, and it is said that later style is better. I opted to put the '02 axles on because they had less miles, but never took notice to the difference until I just tried to bolt them on the car.

The flanges on the differential are different! For me, not a big deal as I can just swap the diffs since I am just running the stock one for this year and have it from the wrecked car. But, I am unsure if Dan from diffsonline.com knows about this yet, and if it is an option when you buy an LSD from him.

However, that isn't the only difference. The ABS tone ring is different on the axles, the OD is smaller on the later style axles, but the good news is they both have the same number of spaces. But, the ABS speed sensors are different, and of course the plug is different too.

The drive shafts are the same though.

Luckily for me I have all of these parts, and I am going to swap everything to be able to use the later style axles, but I am hoping that if Dan doesn't know this he will now be aware of it, and anyone else who ends up with the early style axles that wishes to upgrade, realizes what else is also different.


Early style axle on top, later style on the bottom. Very easy to see the differences, but notice the ABS tone rings. And yes, I know there is a zip tie on the one boot, I didn't have the correct clamp and it was ordered today.


Early style axle on the left, later style on the right. I took the right axle apart to re-grease it. The holes that the 3 zip ties are in actually have rivets that hold the cap on, as well as the "washer" that two bolts go through.


Early style diff flange.


Later style diff flange.


Early style axle bolts and "washer" on the right, later style on the left. The early style bolts are actually the same as the drive shaft.


Later style axle installed on my early 01 trailing arm. Notice the large gap from the ABS speed sensor to the tone ring.


Later style ABS speed sensor. Notice how much further it protrudes towards where the axle would be.


Early style ABS speed sensor plug on the left, later style on the right. They appear the same, besides the color, but the key way inside is different.
 
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#41 ·
Right, the axles are different. I don't think mixing and matching the axles and diff flanges is so straightforward, because they're different dimensions in every respect. If he was going to run the smaller axles on the passenger side, he'd have to use a small hub too because the splines aren't the same. Even then, not sure...
 
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